Planning tool

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a computer apparatus incorporating a model component for calculating time series and a user interface component for controlling the model and displaying the time series. The user interface allows events to be defined which are used by the model, by positioning event markers relative to an event schedule graphic. The apparatus may be used as a financial planning tool, in which case the model is a financial model and the events are financial events. Such a planning tool may further incorporate a component to provide planning suggestions based on the model and defined events.

INTRODUCTION

Computer-based tools for assisting a user in making predictions based ona number of assumptions, to thereby assist in a planning process, arewidely known, for example in the field of economics. Such tools are alsoknown in the fields of medicine and engineering. While many such toolsare common place in professional or academic use, in recent years, anumber of such tools have also been developed as software packages fordomestic or consumer use. These tools generally require a user friendlyinterface which is capable of gathering all the required informationfrom a user, a mathematical model for carrying out a time integrationand a simple graphical output of the results of the time integration.

WO 01/65907 provides a financial planning tool to assist a user inmanaging their personal finances. The tool allows the user to inputpersonal and financial information such as age, salary, interest ratesand risk-aversion, as well as information relating to particularfinancial goals, such as achieving a particular retirement income at acertain age or buying a home of a certain value. The tool then allowsthe user to examine trade-off scenarios between the financial goals. Agraphical user interface presents to the user a number of images, eachimage representing a financial goal. For example, an image of a car maybe used to represent the goal of buying a car. Slider controls are usedto adjust preference parameters relating to each goal. Such preferencesmay include “quality” of the related product, “time” to obtain the goal,and “priority” indicating importance of the goal. As the preferences ofgoals are adjusted using the slider controls, an underlying mathematicmodel continually recalculates outcome parameters for each goal, whichdepend on trade-offs between the various user-set preferences. A“quality” outcome for a goal is represented graphically by changes tothe subject matter of the related image, for example an image couldchange from that of a large house to that of a small house. As a “time”outcome for a goal becomes greater the corresponding image becomes morefaded.

The “Microsoft Money 2003” software product incorporates a “LifetimePlanner Tool” which provides more comprehensive facilities to assist auser in making long term financial plans. Relevant personal andfinancial details are input, such as: details of children and theirplanned educational costs; income including earings and anticipatedevents such as promotions and job changes, inheritances, retirementbenefits; tax and inflation parameters; planned and existing savings,investments and life insurance policies; expected returns oninvestments; house price changes and purchase expectations; regularexpenses, existing debts and one-off costs or similar financial events.The tool then plots a time series of total assets for a number of yearsinto the future, as a bar chart, based on a forward integration of afinancial model constrained by the input user data.

To investigate different scenarios, a user of “Microsoft Money” canreenter particular financial information, add goals or events, and theninstruct the package to recalculate and replot the bar chart, along withthe results of the previous calculation, if required for comparison.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to address the problems and disadvantages ofthe related prior art. In particular, it would be desirable to provide aplanning tool which enabled a user of a planning tool to more quicklyand easily investigate the results of changes to parameters and eventsused as input to an underlying model.

It would also be desirable to provide such a planning tool having agraphical control representing time, wherein the graphical control iscompact and simple to operate. It would also be desirable to provideimproved facilities for controlling the display of the graphicalcontrol, and for a user to easily experiment with changes to parametersand events by interaction with the graphical control.

It would also be desirable to provide a planning tool and associatedmethods for personal finance and other applications, having an improvedarrangement of functional areas to provide facilities for both planningevents or targets and determining actions or options to assist inmeeting those events or targets.

It would also be desirable to provide computer systems and methodshaving improved architectures for meeting these needs in the prior art.

Accordingly, the invention provides a computer apparatus comprising:

a model component adapted to calculate time series of one or moreindicator variables dependent on a plurality of model parameters, atleast some of said model parameters being event parameters relating toone or more events, each event having at least one associated event timeparameter; and

a user interface component adapted to cause at least a part of the scopeof said time series to be graphically represented as an event schedulegraphic and to enable a user to position one or more event markersrelative to said event schedule graphic, said user interface componentbeing further adapted to cause one or more of said event time parametersto be set dependent on the position of each event marker relative to theevent schedule graphic.

Such an apparatus can be used to assist a user in investigating theinteraction between one or more possible time-based events and outcomesof a model which takes account of those events.

Conveniently, the time series may be graphically displayed beneath,alongside, or in another convenient relationship to the event schedulegraphic, or timeline. Advantageously, the time axes of the displays ofthe indicator variables and the event schedule graphic may besubstantially parallel and substantially in-line.

Advantageously, the event schedule graphic may be functionally onedimensional, in the sense that positioning of the event markers on orrelative to the graphic provides control of only one variable,especially a time variable, rather than attempting to use the graphic ina two dimensional control mode, where positioning of the event markerscould, for example, also control a monetary amount. Such a second,dimension, and other parameters relating to an event can be much moreconveniently controlled using other means such as pop-up dialogue boxesor speech bubbles related graphically to the event markers, while at thesame time realising a more compact event schedule graphic so as to freeup graphical user interface space for other uses.

To make the event schedule graphic easier to user, this graphic mayrepresent a controllable portion of the whole scope of the time series,the portion being controllable by means of a timeline navigationelement. Such an element may, for example be provided by a miniaturedisplay representing substantially the whole time series, with draggablecontrols to change the portion displayed as the event schedule graphic.

The user interface may also be adapted to enable a user to exclude oneor more existing events, so that events which have been defined can beeasily included or excluded in the model calculations. An excluded eventcould be represented by a faded-out marker or flag.

Preferably, the apparatus provides an interactive display so that theindicator variables are recalculated and redisplayed as parameters arechanged using the user interface component.

The computer apparatus is preferably implemented in software running onone or more computer workstations or servers. Conveniently, the modelcomponent may be held on a server. The user interface component mayinclude user interface software executing on a browser remote from saidserver where the model component is being executed. Alternatively, thecomponents of the computer apparatus could be co-located.

In a preferred embodiment the computer apparatus provides a financialplanning apparatus, in which the model component implements a financialmodel and the events are financial events. If the financial planningapparatus is for consumer use then the financial events could includeevents such as “planning for retirement”, “buying a house” and so on.

The invention also provides a graphical user interface, for exampleprovided as part of or driven by the above mentioned user interfacecomponent, the graphical user interface comprising:

one or more indicator variable graphics displaying time series of one ormore indicator variables calculated using a model on the basis of aplurality of model parameters, at least some of said model parametersbeing event parameters relating to one or more events, each event havingat least one associated event time parameter;

an event schedule graphic representing at least a part of said timeseries; and

an event marker facility adapted to enable a user to place one or moreevent markers in locations relative to said schedule graphic, and tocause to be generated event parameters for an event corresponding toeach event marker, an event time parameter for each event so generatedbeing set according to the location of the marker relative to theschedule graphic. The invention includes any such graphical userinterface itself, software causing such an interface to execute on acomputer, and a computer executing the graphical user interface. Theinvention also provides a method of providing a user with a graphicalinterface having corresponding steps, and the interface and methodhaving features discussed above in respect of the planning apparatus.The invention also provides a financial planning tool comprising:

a user profile entry module adapted to receive a plurality of financialparameters from a user;

a lifeplan module adapted to receive a plurality of event parametersrelating to a plurality of financial events from a user, said eventparameters including at least one event time parameter for each event;and

a financial model module adapted to calculate time series of one or moreindicator variables from said financial parameters and said eventparameters.

Preferably, the financial planning tool further comprises a lifeplanuser interface adapted to enable a user to generate one or more eventsand to place said events at selected points within the said time series,said lifeplan user interface further displaying graphically said timeseries of said indicator variables.

The invention also provides a method of automatically calculating aplurality of financial suggestion options from a plurality of financialparameters describing the financial position of a user and a pluralityof event parameters describing financial goals of said user, comprising:

following a predefined sequence of suggestion steps, each step relatingto a predefined suggestion area; for each suggestion step determiningfrom said financial parameters and said event parameters whether or notto calculate suggestion options for that step; and

for each suggestion step for which suggestion options are to becalculated, calculating suggestion options for that step.

Preferably, for each step for which suggestion options are calculated,the method also includes receiving a selection of said suggestionoptions from said user and building a financial plan for each such stepbased on the selected suggestion options, each financial plan includingone or more plan parameters.

The suggestion steps may comprise two or more suggestion steps takenfrom the following sequence: paying off one or more types of debt,addressing income deficits, building a rainy day fund and saving for oneor more future events.

The invention also provides computer program products, whether writtenon a computer readable medium, in a signal transmitted over a network orin another electronic form, or installed on part of a computer system,arranged to put into effect any of the above aspects of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of exampleonly and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a graphical user interface and associated computerapparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates some of the possible variations to the user interfaceof FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a series of stages of a financial planning processput into effect by a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative series of stages of a financialplanning process or elements of a corresponding apparatus;

FIG. 5 shows a computer system for putting the planning process of FIG.3 or 4 into effect;

FIG. 6 shows another computer system for putting the planning process ofFIG. 3 or 4 into effect;

FIG. 7 illustrates, in more detail, the user interface component of FIG.6;

FIG. 8 illustrates, in more detail, the main application component ofFIG. 6;

FIG. 9 illustrates, in more detail, the database component of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of the financial model implemented bythe financial model component of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 illustrates the structure of a suggestion model implemented bythe suggestion engine component of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 illustrates the lifeplan graphical user interface effected bythe corresponding interface component of FIG. 7;

FIG. 13 illustrates an event prioritization interface effected by thesuggestion centre interface component of FIG. 7;

FIG. 14 shows the lifeplan interface of FIG. 9 with additional plangraphics; and

FIG. 15 shows a table of some suitable financial events.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Referring first to FIG. 1 there is shown a graphical user interface 20(GUI) provided by a user interface component 21 and associated computerapparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention. A modelcomponent 10 is arranged to calculate one or more time series, includingtime series of one or more key “indicator variables”, on the basis of anumber of model parameters held in a parameter memory 12. The calculatedtime series of the indicator variables are passed to the user interfacecomponent 21 for display within the GUI as indicator variable graphics22.

Typically, many of the model parameters will be preset, or will be inputusing another GUI component invoked prior to the use of the illustratedGUI 20. However, the GUI 20 provides the user with facilities forsetting up extra event parameters 14, 16 relating to “events”. An eventis generated, for example, by selecting a graphical event selector 24and then selecting a position within the modelled time series at whichto place the generated new event. Different event selectors 24 areprovided for generating events of different types or classes of typesE1, E2, E3 and E4 which may, for example, require different eventparameter sets for inclusion in the parameter memory 12, forconstraining the model component 10.

The GUI may be used to generate an event by selecting an event type orclass by directing a cursor within the GUI 20 to one of the eventselectors 24, selecting the selector, then moving the cursor andreleasing or deselecting at a location indicative of the chosen positionwithin the time series. This type of dynamic may conveniently beimplemented as a mouse controlled “drag and drop” action. To assist theuser in accurate use of the dropping or deselection action, an eventschedule graphic 26 (or timeline) is provided, which preferably has atime axis parallel to the time axes of the indicator variable graphics22, and more preferably has a time axis parallel to, aligned with and ofthe same scale as those of the indicator variable graphics 22. The eventselectors 24 may be provided by graphical buttons, menus or any othermeans.

The above discussed “drag and drop” type action to place a selectedevent on or relative to the event schedule graphic 26 causes the userinterface component 21 to generate an event marker 28 which is displayedat a location within or proximate to the event schedule graphic 26, thelocation indicating the position in the time series of the associatedevent. The event marker 28 may be graphically rendered in the GUI 20 asa flag or similar graphic, preferably indicating graphically the type orclass of event marked.

The actions required to generate and place a new event marker 28 triggerthe generation or setting of appropriate event parameters 14, 16 need toinclude the event in the next execution of the model component 10. Theseevent parameters include at least one event time parameter whichrepresents the time position marked by the event marker 28. The userinterface may also provide facilities for subsequent modification ofevent parameters. For example, a dialogue box could be launched onselection of an event marker 28 using the pointer device. Initial valuesof each event parameter 14, 16 could also be set up using a similardialogue box launched on selection of a graphical new event selector.Event markers 28 may be moved, for example, using the pointer device ina drag and drop action, with the associated event time parameter beingupdated accordingly.

Preferably, the model component 10 recalculates the time series, and theindicator variable graphics 22 are updated automatically when one ormore of the parameters held in the parameter memory 12 are changed, andespecially when an event is modified or a new event is generated. Theevent schedule graphic could be incorporated within one or more of theindicator variable graphics, or could be provided by one or more ofthese graphics.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a GUI similar to thatillustrated in FIG. 1, but incorporating a number of variations, each ofwhich may be incorporated into the arrangement of FIG. 1. The GUI 30 ofFIG. 2 includes event selectors 32, an event schedule graphic 34 (ortimeline) onto which event markers 36 may be placed, and one or moreindicator variable graphics 38, these elements being linked to a userinterface component, a model component and a parameter memory asillustrated in FIG. 1. Additionally, FIG. 2 shows a timeline navigationelement 40 comprising a representation of all or a larger part of themodelled time period, the timeline navigation element having a currentdisplay window 42. The event schedule graphic 34 and the one or moreindicator variable graphics 38 represent an adjustable current portionof the modelled time period, and the scope of the portion is representedby the current display window 42. The current portion of the modelledtime period is preferably adjustable, by user interaction with thetimeline navigation element, for example by dragging or stretching theelement using a pointing device. Indicator variable graphics preferablyadjust automatically to display the same scope as the event schedulegraphic.

To help a user accurately align an event flag with the desired droppoint on the event schedule graphic, the user interface displays avertical shadow down from a flag during a drag and drop action, theshadow intersecting with the current locating position on the eventschedule graphic.

A user can elect to exclude an existing event from the current modelcalculations. When an event is excluded, the corresponding flag iconchanges appearance, for example being lightened or discoloured, as shownby event flags 37 in FIG. 2. Exclusion may be achieved by locating acursor over a flag and pausing (“hovering”), causing the user interfaceto display a speech bubble type graphic providing access to an excludebutton. A similar mechanism may be used to include a previously excludedevent.

A user can also move, or remove flags from the event schedule graphic34. To move a flag, a select and drag function can be used, or aneditable time field may be displayed, through the speech bubble typemechanism mentioned above. To remove a flag, a user can select the flagand then select a remove-event control elsewhere on the interface, dragan event flag to a remove-event control, or select a remove control viathe above mentioned speech-bubble type functionality.

The event schedule graphics 26, 34 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 preferablyprovide only one logical control dimension, in the sense that thelocation of an event flag relative to the event schedule graphic definesonly one parameter, typically a time parameter for the flag event. Byavoiding two, or possibly more control dimensions, the user interface ismore straightforward to use and less confusing. Also, less space istaken up by an event schedule graphic with only one control dimension,leaving more room in the GUI for other functionality.

The arrangements illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are typically implementedusing conventional computer apparatus, including a visual display unit,pointer device such as a mouse to control a screen cursor, data memoryand a central processing unit. The GUI 20, user interface component 21,model component 10 and parameter memory 12, and software supportingthese components, may be implemented using software and hardware at asingle computer workstation, or distributed across two or more computerslinked by appropriate data communication or network means.

Conveniently, the GUI can be deployed using a largely stateless browserclient communicating with a server over an electronic network, with theserver processing all underlying data and providing logicalfunctionality, and the browser client performing graphical rendering anduser input functions.

The arrangement of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 2 may be used to assist controland visualization of a model and its results for a variety of purposeswhere convenient generation and modification of events tied to amodelled time series is advantageous. Such purposes include modellingthe response of a clinical patient to drug doses, and modelling amanufacturing process. Another particular application is in personalfinancial planning. The more detailed embodiment set out below is inthis last field, and also includes a number of other aspects of theinvention not illustrated in the arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring now to FIG. 3 there is shown a sequence of stages throughwhich a user may be guided by a second embodiment of the invention. Thesequence of stages assist the user in making finance-related plansthrough means of a financial model and suggestion or proposals engine.The second embodiment takes the form of a suitably programmed computersystem, the software running on elements of that system, and alsoassociated methods and user interfaces, which will together be referredto as the “planning tool”. The corresponding elements illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2 as discussed above may be used within embodiments of andvariations on this planning tool.

After a sign-in process 50 to provide suitable authentication, a user ofthe planning tool is asked by the tool to provide a variety of personaland financial details, at step 51. These details may include name,address, age, marital status, ages of dependents, as well as morespecific financial details including income and expenditure streams suchas salary and regular bills, bank accounts, bank balances, investmentsand anticipated liabilities.

The details requested in step 51, rendered, for example, into aparameter set and stored in a parameter memory 12 as illustrated in FIG.1, should be sufficient, along with appropriate default values, toconstrain a financial model to predict the users modelled financialstate for some years into the future. Background economic parameterssuch as inflation, interest and investment return rates, and taxationmay be neglected, provided with default values or supplied by the user.

Having obtained basic financial details in step 51, the planning tooluses the financial model (provided, for example, by model component 10of FIG. 1) to establish a financial lifeplan in step 52. Using agraphical user interface such as that illustrated in FIG. 1, the user isenabled to create, move and change financial events which are added intothe financial model, and the predicted financial state for the user isredisplayed accordingly, for example using one or more indicatorvariable graphics as illustrated in FIG. 1. Financial events may beone-off events such as buying a car or getting married or may be longerterm commitments such as paying school fees or buying a house andsubsequently repaying a mortgage. The new event selectors 24 of FIG. 1illustrate one way in which financial events may be created.

As an alternative to the input step 51 illustrated in FIG. 3, some orall of the user's personal and financial details may be input during thelifeplan step 52 as and when required, thus avoiding the need for step51, partly or altogether.

When the user has set up a lifeplan to their satisfaction the planningtool asks them to put priorities on the selected events in step 53, forexample by a simple ordering of importance. Aversion to financial riskmay also be indicated. The planning tool then generates financialsuggestions in step 54, typically as a number of options selectable bythe user. By selecting one or more options and returning to the lifeplanstep 52, with the selected options now included with the parametersdriving the financial model, the user can review the results of thechosen options, and their impact on future financial status.

During further iterations of these steps a user can fine tune theirplans in respect of planned financial events and suggestion options.Finally, the planning tool takes the user through a review step 55 inwhich important and suggested action points are listed. The review stepmay provide facilities for setting up future reminders to be sent to theuser, for example by email or SMS.

FIG. 4 illustrates a number of alternatives and variations to the seriesof stages shown in FIG. 3. Each area, step or stage illustrated in FIG.4 and the functionality thereof may be implemented by a correspondingelement of a planning tool implemented on one or more computers. Theguided planning process is divided into three areas: a timeline area 56,an options area 57 and a to-do list area 58. The user must interact witheach of these functional areas to reach a point at which the planningtool can output a set of personal finance strategies, relevantinstructions to the user, and a printed summary report.

Firstly, the timeline area 56, which may be implemented as discussedabove in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2, is used to gather data from theuser, for example to provide financial model parameters. This dataincludes personal financial details such as salary and savings, anddetails pertinent to planned financial events. The timeline area 56 ofFIG. 4 corresponds broadly to the “view lifeplan; add/change events”step 52 and the “get basic financial details” step 51 of FIG. 3, incombination. After a “sign in” step 59, a “view timeline” step 60provides access to an interface such as that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and2. When the user adds a first event the interface requests financialdetails in step 61 before obtaining details of the requested event instep 62 and returning to the “view timeline” step. Existing events canthen be moved and changed and new events added without passing throughthe step 61 of requesting financial details.

From the “view timeline” step 60 access is provided to the options area57, where the user is asked to prioritize the events in step 63, so asto allow a planning or suggestions mechanism to generate a discrete setof financial planning suggestions, solutions, or options. The user maychoose any of the options, in step 64, to employ as part of a personalfinance strategy to achieve a particular event. Each event has a seriesof associated possible options, the viability of which are assessed onthe basis of a decision tree. Chosen options are presented to the userin a review options step 65, from which the user may return to the viewtimeline step 60 of the timeline area 56, or proceed to the “view to-dolist” step 66 of the to-do list area 58.

Consequent from the user's choice of options, the planning toolcalculates a set of to-do list items, relating to the activities thatthe user will need to carry out over a coming time period, such assix-months, in order to put into effect the financial strategiesrepresented by the chosen options. The to-do list items are presented tothe user in step 66, and a summary report is available in step 67. Theuser may wish to use a home printing device to print the summary report,which is generated by the planning mechanism as a result of the user'sprioritization and options selection activities.

The user can elect to add events and choose options in an iterativefashion based on the feedback received from the view timeline indicatorgraphics. Alternatively, all relevant data can be used in generating andreviewing options.

FIG. 5 shows, schematically, components of an arrangement of theplanning tool outlined above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Adistributed configuration of functional computing elements is used forthe calculation of personal finance strategies and associatedinstructions.

The elements are mostly distributed between a user interface component502 and a main application component 504, which communicate with eachother.

The interface component includes a network interface 506 incommunication with one or more Active Server Page Servers 508, whichare, in turn, in communication with user interface elements 510 and HTMLpages 512. User interface component 502 communicates with client or userelements over network 513 using the network interface 506. Clientcommunications are managed by the ASP servers 508 using the userinterface elements 510 and html pages 512.

The main application component 504 contains a number of user interfacemodules which use the corresponding user interface components 510 topresent data and receive instructions from users or clients.

The user interface modules include: a profile entry module 514 and atimeline module 516 which together implement the functionalities oftimeline area 56 of FIG. 4; an options module 518 which implements theoptions area 57 of FIG. 4; and a to-do list module 520 which implementsthe functionality of the to-do list area 58 of FIG. 4.

The main application component 504 also includes a number of othermodules, including: a summary report module 522 which implements thesummary report step 67 of FIG. 4; a financial model 524 to calculate thefuture state of a user's finances based on the available modelparameters; an options engine 524 to generate a discrete set of planningsolutions, or options, for the user to choose and review in steps 64 and65 of FIG. 4; and administration tools 528.

The modules of the main application component 504 communicate with adatabase 530 using a database server 532. The database contains user (orcustomer) profiles, including financial parameters, events generatedusing the timeline module 516, options generated and selected using theoptions module 518 and plans made using the to-do list module 520. Thedatabase also contains more user non specific data such as templates,options parameters and general financial model parameters.

Thus it can be seen that four primary modules drive the functionality ofthe user interface presented to users over the network 513: profileentry, timeline, options and to-do list. The user interface is generallypresented at a user browser, which is largely stateless with respect tothe planning tool, and which uses a flash component to present the userinterface components 510.

A more specific and detailed embodiment of a planning tool as outlinedin the discussion of FIGS. 3 to 5 is illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 13.Although such a planning tool could easily be implemented on a singlecomputer workstation, the arrangement shown in FIG. 6 is implemented asa client-server arrangement, as is that of FIG. 5. A main application70, written in an object oriented programming language such as C++, or avariant thereof such as C#, runs on an application server 72. Data foraccess by the main application 70 is held in a database 74 and isaccessed using a database server 76. The main application 70 interactswith one or more users via a user interface component 78 running on aweb server 80. Each server component may run on a common computer, orthe servers may be implemented on separate, or be distributed across aplurality of computer entities.

A user accesses the planning tool using a client computer 82, which willtypically be a personal computer having conventional peripherals such asa mouse, keyboard and screen. A web browser application 84 running on aclient computer 82 puts the user interfaces provided by the web server80 into effect and enables the user to communicate with the mainapplication 70 through a network 86, such as the publically accessibleInternet, to which the client and web server computers are bothconnected.

Further details of the user interface component are illustrated in FIG.7. A number of different user interface modules are held in one or moreareas of memory 102, 104. Each user interface module provides data andinstructions for the particular user interface to be implemented by aweb browser 84 implemented on a client 82 as shown in FIG. 6. The areasof memory 102, 104 could be provided by local non-volatile storage, thedatabase 74 of FIG. 6, or any other means, and are illustrated as storedwithin the user interface component 78 for convenience only.

Memory area 102 contains a number of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)pages. These are used where relatively simple interaction with a user isrequired. A homepage 100 provides an initial introduction to a new orregistered user when a new connection is first established between aclient 82 and the user interface component 78, and contains hypertextlinks to a login page 112 and a registration page 114, should these berequired to control access to the planning tool. An administrationconsole 116, for use by an administrator in configuring and controllingthe planning tool may also be provided.

Memory area 104 contains a number of Flash® movie components. Fordetails of the Flash tool, see the Macromedia website atwww.macromedia.com. When executed on a Flash engine operating as part ofa web browser 84 a Flash movie provides much more complex userinteraction and graphical facilities than can be obtained, at leastwithout great difficulty, than when using the HTML pages held in memoryarea 102.

The Flash movie components shown in FIG. 7 include a user profile entrymovie 120, a lifeplan movie 122, a suggestion centre movie 124, a numberof product page movies 130, an action centre movie 132 and a librarymovie 134.

The user profile entry movie 120, when executed by a client web browser84, provides a user with facilities for entering a variety of personaland financial details. This is carried out in conjunction with a userprofile entry module 150 forming a part of the main application 70,discussed below. Many of these details correspond to parameters requiredby the financial model 250 and suggestion engine 350 illustrated in FIG.8 and discussed below. Some details may be purely for administrative ormarketing purposes, such as name, home address, email, and details oforganisations currently providing financial services to the user.

The user profile entry movie 120 may be implemented as a questionnairedivided into numerous popup dialogue boxes, or more preferably using atabbed-dialogue approach dividing a complete questionnaire intofinancial areas such as “Earnings and Retirement”, “Family andLifestyle”, “Home and Mortgage” and “Savings and Loans”. As an example,the “Earnings and Retirement” dialogue might require entry of the user'scurrent total annual income before tax, current pension fund size,anticipated retirement age and income and so on. Preferably, thedialogue is structured so that a user need only complete a limited partof the dialogue, such as just a first “Earnings and Retirement” sectionbefore proceeding to use the lifeplan movie 122. The later completion ofother parts of the dialogue will subsequently increase the amount ofdata available to the financial model 250 and suggestion engine 350,thus improving the quality of the suggestions provided by the planningtool.

Sensible default values are provided for necessary parameters when auser has not supplied a value. Validation of entered data is used tocheck for consistent and sensible parameter values. Such validation maycheck, for example, that a salary is within a normal range, thatretirement age is less than an upper threshold, and that outgoings arereasonably consistent with income. A user can return to the user profileentry movie 120 from other parts of the planning tool, in order to amendthe entered parameters. Facilities are also provided to enable a user tomove easily from the user profile entry movie 120 to other interfacemodules such as the lifeplan movie 122.

As already discussed in connection with FIG. 5, some or all of thefunction of the user profile entry movie 120 and corresponding module150 may be incorporated into the lifeplan movie 122 and module 152, withuser data being requested at suitable times during execution of thelifeplan movie, for example in response to new events being requested.

The lifeplan movie 122 implements, when executed on a client browser 84,a graphical user interface similar to the GUIs 20, 30 illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2, and puts into effect the view lifeplan stage of FIG. 3 orthe timeline area of FIG. 4. This is carried out in conjunction with alifeplan module 152 forming a part of the main application 70, discussedbelow. The lifeplan movie 122 and its interaction with the rest of theplanning tool will be described in detail later in connection with FIGS.12 and 14, so only a basic discussion is given here. The lifeplan movieuses the financial model 250 to derive time series of one or moreindicator variables, and displays these time series graphically. Theindicator variables may include some or all of “Spare income”, “Amountof Debt”, “Net worth”, “Retirement”, and the indicator variable graphicsmay be, for example, conventional line graphics, bar charts, trafficlight style L.E.D. charts, or colour block lines with colours indicatingdifferent categories such as “lots”, “little” and “negative”; “none”,“medium”, “high”; and “yes”, “nearly”, “no”.

Conveniently, the indicator variable graphics may be selectable, forexample using a pointer device (eg “clickable”), to launch a display ofthe calculations or numbers used to define part or all of the graphic.

A pallette of icons, a menu or other convenient structure correspondingfunctionally to the new event selectors of FIGS. 1 and 2 enables a userto create a new event. A new event may be “Buying a first house”,“Buying a second house”, “Moving house”, “Educating a child”, “Specialpurpose”, “Windfall”, “Salary change”, “Receive a bonus” or any otherinstantaneous or ongoing event with financial implications. A table ofsome suitable event types, grouped into categories, is given in FIG. 15.The lifeplan movie 122 enables a user to input required parametersrelating to each new event, and to indicate a time of occurrence. Theseparameters are added to those used to constrain the financial model 250.When a user changes parameters of the financial model 250 from withinthe lifeplan movie 122, the financial model 250 is preferablyre-executed and the indicator variable graphics refreshed accordingly,so as to reflect the changes made. The lifeplan may be operated with atime resolution of 1 year, 1 month or any other suitable interval. Afacility is also provided to enable a user to move on to the suggestioncentre movie 124 when he has set up the model parameters to hissatisfaction.

The suggestion centre movie 124, when executed on a client browser 84,seeks to provide the user with financial suggestions based on thefinancial parameters entered using the user profile entry movie 120 andthe parameters of events entered using the lifeplan movie 122. Thesuggestion centre movie 124 operates in conjunction with a suggestioncentre module 154 to implement the options area 57 of FIG. 4, and formsa part of the main application discussed below. Financial suggestions,or options, are generated and supplied to the suggestion centre module154 by a suggestion engine 350 (equivalent to the options engine of FIG.5).

Before suggestions are provided, the user is asked to prioritize theevents which were generated using the lifeplan movie 122. This may beachieved using a dialogue box such as that illustrated in FIG. 13, whichasks a user to place the events in a chosen order. The user may also beasked to select a level of caution or risk which they wish to associatewith each or all events. The information gathered during this stage isused by the suggestion engine 350 to determine in what order to tacklethe users “goals” as represented by the events, and what growthexpectations can be used for savings or investments allocated towardsachieving these goals.

Using the financial parameters now available and the priority and riskfor each event, a series of suggestion stages are presented by thesuggestion centre movie 124. A dialogue is associated with eachsuggestion stage. The dialogues present the suggestions generated by thesuggestion engine 350, which is discussed in detail below with referenceto FIG. 11. Typically, the suggestion stages follow an order which wouldconventionally be used by a financial adviser, for example beginningwith system generated suggestions such as “Getting out of debt”,“Maintaining a rainy day fund”, and then proceeding with the event goalsas prioritized by the user. An option may be provided to also enable auser to prioritize the system generated suggestions.

For each suggestion stage there may be several ways in which a usercould arrive at the goal or event. The suggestion centre movie 124presents the user with these alternative options and makesrecommendations based on industrial best practice and suitability forthe user. Option buttons with the dialogue for each stage enable a userto read a text-based explanation.

Suggestion Options chosen by the user are used to generate financialplans comprising financial suggestion parameters used when the lifeplanmovie 122 is re-entered to model the impact of the chosen options on thetime series of indicator variables. Chosen options may include actionsof changing existing model parameters, such as time parameters ofparticular events. An example of such an action would be to delay aretirement event. Such parameter changing actions, and other impacts ofchosen options are also reflected when the lifeplan movie 122 isre-entered. Chosen suggestion options may be directly illustrated in thegraphical user interface generated by the Lifeplan movie 122, forexample as time-bars, as illustrated in FIG. 14, discussed below. As analternative, suggestion options may be indicated on event flags, forexample using a small “s” in the corner of the flag for each eventhaving one or more generated suggestion options. To see the options orplans a user selects the associated event flag using a mouse or otherpointing device.

Product page movies 130 provide details and selectable options relatingto particular financial products or classes of products, and may beaccessed from within the suggestion centre movie 124 if required.Alternatively, tables and hypertext links to guide a user to relevantinformation may be provided, for example using the action centre movie132.

The action centre movie 132, in conjunction with the main application,provides the function of the “to-do-list” in FIG. 5, or the “to-do-list”area in FIG. 4, or the “review plans/actions” stage in FIG. 3. Theaction centre movie provides the user with an opportunity to review theplanning process by providing a list of actions that the user shouldimplement to improve their financial circumstances and/or achieve thegoals they have set out by means of defining events. Instructions may bepresented to a user on an event-by-event basis or at an aggregatedlevel, for example in terms of event-related or total required savings.The movie provides facilities enabling the user to set up remindersagainst action items with any frequency or start date. Reminders maytake the form of emails or SMS messages sent to the user.

The library movie 134 provides the user with a variety of backgroundmaterials such as discussions relating to types of financial product,taxation and pension regulations.

A variety of other, or different movies to those discussed above could,of course, be provided, and the discussed elements could be providedusing HTML pages, Java scripts, or using a variety of other tools apartfrom or in addition to Flash movies.

A dialogue manager 100 forwards the Flash movies and HTML pagescontained in memories 102 and 104 to a web browser 84 at a client 82 viaa network interface 101, and manages the subsequent interaction betweenthe movies and pages executed on the browser and associated modules ofthe main application 70. This interaction may be carried out using XML(Extendable Markup Language) or a variant thereof such as SOAP (SimpleObject Access Protocol), which is a lightweight XML-based objectlanguage. The dialogue manager 100 may typically be provided by anactive server page (ASP) server executing on web server 80.

Details of the main application 70 are illustrated in FIG. 8. The mainapplication is preferably implemented using an object-oriented languagesuch as C++ or a variant thereof, and is illustrated in FIG. 8 ascomprising a plurality of modules, including user interface modules andother modules. The user interface modules include a user profile entrymodule 150, a lifeplan module 152, a suggestion centre module 154, anaction centre module 156 and any product specific suggestion modules158, 160. Each of these user interface modules communicates, via thedialogue manager 100 of FIG. 7, with a corresponding one of the Flashmovies when executing on a client 82, and provides for appropriate useof and data flow to and from the other main application modules.

The other main application modules shown in FIG. 8 are a profile module170, a financial model module 172, a suggestion engine module 174, anadministration tools module 176 and a summary report module 177. Theadministration tools module provides services to the administrationconsole 116 of FIG. 7, and may be implemented in a separate executionspace or on a different computer from other parts of the mainapplication, and in particular behind a firewall to make illegitimateaccess from the network 86 more difficult. The summary report module 177passes XML to a third party application called XML PDF, and implementsthe summary report step 67 of FIG. 4.

The profile module 170 provides a uniform central point of access forother modules to read and write data from and to the database 74, and inparticular personal and financial details entered by a user, other modelparameters such as those relating to specified financial events anddetails of suggestions provided and financial suggestion options chosen.

The financial model module 172 extracts parameters from the database 74using the profile module 170 and constructs a corresponding financialmodel 250 on demand. This model has, as outputs, time series of theindicator variables for display by the lifeplan movie 122, as well asother outputs required by the suggestion centre module 154 andsuggestion engine module 174.

The suggestion engine module 174 uses the profile module 170 to extractall relevant data from the database 74 and constructs a series ofsuggestion options which are passed by the suggestion centre module 154to an instance of the suggestion centre movie executing at a client 82for selection by a user. Suggestion options selected by a user, andextra required parameters entered by a user, are passed to the profilemodule 170 for storage in the database 74 as one or more action plans.

Some of the data elements stored in the database 74 which are relevantto this description of the planning tool are illustrated in FIG. 9. Inone embodiment the database server is a SQL server and the database 74is a relational database.

For each different user of the planning tool the database stores acustomer profile 200. A customer profile 200 comprises personal data 202relating to the user, such as name, postal address, email address. Italso contains financial model parameters 204, including age, salary,number of dependents, bank account details, current bank accountbalances and investments and so on. These parameters will typically havebeen input through use of the user profile entry movie 120. Thefinancial model parameters 204 also include parameters defining eventswhich have been set up by a user using the lifeplan movie 122.

Each customer profile 200 may also include one or more blocks ofsuggestion session data 206 containing parameters describing the outcomeof a user working through an instance of the suggestion centre movie 124one or more times, and written to the database 74 by the suggestioncentre module. Each customer profile 200 may also include one or moreblocks of Action Plan data corresponding to output from an instance ofthe action centre movie 132 including reminders and text descriptions.

Apart from customer profile data 200, the database may also store avariety of other data elements including text templates 220 for any ofthe Flash movies stored in the memory area 104 of the user interfacecomponent 78, rules and parameters 222 for driving the suggestion engineimplemented by the suggestion engine module 174, and non-customerspecific parameters and default parameters 224 for the financial modelimplemented by the financial model module 172, including taxation rules,default inflation and investment return rates, and default orconventional retirement annuity yields.

A way in which a financial model 250 may be implemented by the financialmodel module 172 using an object-oriented construction is shown in FIG.10. FIG. 10 shows a hierarchy of inherited object types, each of whichtypes may be instantiated into one or more objects of that type, eachobject containing relevant data and being linked to or containingmethods, implemented by suitable computer program instructions, forhandling that data, and for carrying out the model calculation thatgenerates time series of the indicator variables.

The financial model 250 includes financial accounts 260, financialstreams 280 and financial actions 290. Accounts store wealth or debt,and streams move wealth or debt into, out of and between accounts.Parameters defining a users accounts and transactions are stored in acustomer profile 200 as financial model parameters. There are at leasttwo types of account, including real accounts 262 and calculatedaccounts 268. Real accounts 262, in turn, include reserved accounts 264and debt accounts 266. The methods associated with reserved accountsallow some of the money in an account to be denoted as reserved for aparticular goal, which may be linked to an event defined by the user,and hence not available for other purposes. Reserved accounts mayinclude a user's current bank account, savings accounts and pensionfunds. A debt account 266 generally holds negative wealth, such as amortgage or credit card account.

Calculated accounts 268 are derived from other accounts. The indicatorvariables displayed as time series by the lifeplan movie 122 are totalsfrom calculated accounts 268. Typical calculated accounts are “totalsavings”, “total investments” and “spare cash”.

A single set of financial model parameters stored in a customer profile200 may include definitions of multiple similar accounts of the sametype, such as loans, which are each represented by an account object ofthe appropriate type. A calculated account may also be created torepresent the aggregated accounts, such as total loans.

Without any streams 280 or other actions 290, accounts 260 change onlyaccording to any interest rate applied to each account. The incomegrowth is recorded explicitly so that it can be identified for taxpurposes. Accounts, however, can be affected by streams 280, which causewealth to move into and out of accounts.

Each account is responsible for handling the propagation of streams 280or actions 290 moving money into or out of that account. The effect ofan action or stream can propagate into calculated accounts 268. Accountobjects 260 are provided with a set of financial functions to perform“what-if” calculations, such as a calculation of how much a lump sumwould grow to over a number of years, or what an initial investmentwould need to be to provide a given sum at a specified future point intime.

Streams 280 include income streams 282 and expenditure streams 284. Anincome stream is an external source of money that is directed into aparticular account, for example salary, pension payments, money earnedfrom property, dividend income and cash windfalls. Some income streamsare defined as “one-off” income streams because they define a singleamount of money in a particular period, such as a “windfall” or “bonus”.

An expenditure stream 284 transfers money out of an account. Typicalexpenditure streams are “rent”, “living expenses” and “tax payments”.Some expenditure streams are defined as “one-off” expenditure streams,such as “buying a car” or “paying a house deposit”.

A financial action 290 defines an isolated financial or model parameterchange. Several types of action may be defined. A transaction 292 moveswealth from one account to another. A change event action 294 changesparameters of an event defined using the lifeplan movie, for examplemoving an event forwards or backwards in time, or adding a new event. Acreate account action 296 creates a new real or calculated account. Achange income stream action 298 amends details of an income stream 282,for example by reducing or increasing the rate of flow of money orchanging the destination account. A change expenditure stream action 300similarly changes details of a user expenditure stream.

A financial plan comprises a set of financial actions 290 which togethercontribute towards arriving at a particular financial objective. Afinancial plan is generated as a user selects suggestion optionspresented by the suggestion centre movie 124. Each financial plan has aneffect on one or more of the accounts 260. At least two types offinancial plans are defined, “regular investment plans” which defineregular payments of the same amount over a given time frame, and“irregular investment plans” which define varying payments and actions.The actions of a financial plan therefore contain or define parameterswhich are used by the financial model 250.

The suggestion engine 350, implemented by the suggestion engine module174 in conjunction with suggestion engine rules and parameters 222 whichmay be stored in the database 74, generates financial suggestions basedon the financial model parameters and other data available. A way inwhich the suggestion engine 350 may be implemented by the suggestionengine module 174 using an object-oriented construction is shown in FIG.11, which shows a hierarchy of inherited objects.

When the suggestion engine 350 is run it constructs a financial model250 based on the available financial model parameters and then executesa series of suggestion steps 352. The suggestion steps are ordered, butsome may be skipped if they are not applicable based on the availabledata. The steps 352 may implement the following suggestion stages: “payoff credit card debt”, “pay off general loans”, “address current incomedeficits”, “build up a rainy day fund”, “save for an event on thelifeplan”. The first four of these stages may be referred to as systemsuggestions, while the fifth depends on what events have been defined bya user.

Appropriate rules drive the various steps 352 so that, for example, a“pay off credit card debt” step is skipped if there is no such debt. Foreach event generated using the lifeplan movie the suggestion engine 350attempts to create a savings, investment or debt-funded plan tosuccessfully achieve the event. Events are processed according to theprioritisation specified by the user when executing an instance of thesuggestion centre movie 124. For each event, the suggestion engine 350also takes into account the users attitudes to risk, which are used tomap onto likely investment returns.

The suggestion engine 350 approaches saving for defined events byconsidering intervals of time between successive events. First, theengine calculates if the funds required to achieve the event can besaved starting from the time of the previous event. If extra funds arerequired, the engine calculates if the funds can be saved starting froman earlier time. Finally, the engine will propose funding an event fromexisting savings. If the event still cannot be funded then the enginewill propose alternative options, for example by delaying the event orreducing the event cost. Examples of such proposals are delayingretirement and buying a cheaper house.

Each step 352 of the suggestion engine 350 thus gives rise to a seriesof options 354, each of which addresses the needs of the correspondingstep. If an option is selected by a user then it can give rise to one ormore financial plans 356, each comprising one or more actions 290 asdiscussed above with reference to FIG. 10.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is shown a graphical user interface GUI370 presented at the client 82 by execution of the lifeplan movie 122 bythe web browser 84. While putting this GUI 370 into effect, the webbrowser 84 is in communication with the lifeplan module 152 of the mainapplication, by means of the network 86 and dialogue manager 100 of theuser interface component 78.

The GUI 370 presents information to the user of the client 82, by meansof a visual display unit, and receives input by a user controlling acursor using a computer mouse having selection buttons, and also by useof a keyboard provided at the client 82.

In addition to the features set out below, the GUI 370 may provide anyor all of the features discussed in respect of FIGS. 1 and 2 above. Inparticular, a timeline navigation element may be provided, to controlthe display scope of the event schedule graphic and associated indicatorvariable graphics. This display scope might typically be 10 years, of a40 year timeline.

When the lifeplan movie 122 is executed it requests execution of thefinancial model module 172 by the application server 72. The calculatedtime series of indicator variables, such as “spare income”, “amount ofshort-term debt” and “net worth” are passed to the web browser 84 andare displayed as one or more indicator variable graphics 372. These maybe x-y plots, LED charts, bar charts or any other type of graph. Thegraphics illustrated in FIG. 12 are bars of coloured blocks in whicheach block is coloured according to a colour key 374 shown alongside thecorresponding graphic. A single coloured block represents a particularinterval of time, for example one year.

Also displayed as part of the GUI 370 is a event schedule graphic 376.This graphic has a time axis corresponding to the time axes of theindicator variable graphics, and is preferably disposed in the vicinityof, parallel to and in line with the indicator graphics so as to improvethe clarity to the user of the interactions and display mechanismsdescribed below. In particular, the event schedule graphic may comprisea plurality of blocks, each block corresponding logically and inposition to a block of one of the indicator variable graphics 372.

A pallette 378 of event selector widgets 380 is displayed and enables auser of the GUI 370 to request generation of a new financial event. Eachof a plurality of event selector widgets 380 launches the creation of anew event of a particular type, or class of types for example using alist picker. For example, the widgets could be labelled “home”, “job”,“family”, “extras” and “retire”. The creation of a new event requiresinput of data relating to the event, including the more particular typeof event (“buy a first home”, “pay off mortgage”), particular financialparameters (“cost of home”), and a time parameter. The particular typeand financial parameters may be entered using a pop-up dialogue box orsimilar, while the time parameter may conveniently be entered byindicating a point in the GUI 370 on or relative to the event schedulegraphic 376.

Conveniently, a drag and drop action from one of the event selectorwidgets 380 to the event schedule graphic 376 may be used to set thetime parameter, by location of the drop action. A dialogue box 384 forentering the remaining parameters may be launched before or followingthe drop action.

An event marker 382 is preferably presented by the GUI on or adjacent tothe event schedule graphic 376 to represent each generated event. Themarker preferably indicates graphically the type or class of event whichit represents, for example by means of text or an icon. In theembodiment of FIG. 12 the event markers 382 take the form of flags. Eachevent marker can be selected and moved using a drag and drop action toanother part of the event schedule graphic 376 to change thecorresponding event time parameter. Each event marker 382 can also beselected to re-launch an appropriate dialogue box 384 to change otherevent parameters, and/or to see a suggestions summary, if thesuggestions centre movie has already been run. Facilities may also beprovided to delete an event, for example by dragging an event marker anddropping it on a disposal graphic or widget, such as a trash can(rubbish bin) icon.

When a new event is generated or an existing event is modified thefinancial model 250 is re-executed and the resulting time series ofindicator variables are used to redraw the indicator variable graphics372.

The event selector widgets may be implemented as buttons, drop downmenus or in any other suitable form. The event schedule graphic could beincorporated in or form part of one or more of the indicator variablegraphics.

An interface element 386 is provided to enable a user to proceed toobtaining financial suggestions on the basis of the financial parametersinput using the user profile entry movie 120 and the lifeplan movie 122.As discussed above, these suggestions are provided using an interactivesuggestion centre movie 124. An early stage of providing thesesuggestions may be to request the user to prioritize the events set upusing the lifeplan movie 122. This prioritization can be achieved usinga prioritization interface 390 as illustrated in FIG. 13. The events arelisted in a tabular form. Arrow buttons 392 within the table can be usedto promote or demote each event and radio buttons 394 can be used toselect a risk or caution factor which the user would like to associatewith any financial plans generated for saving for the event.

Financial suggestions are presented to the user in the stages discussedabove with reference to FIG. 11. The user selects particular suggestionoptions and the suggestion engine 350 generates one or more financialplans, which may be recorded in the suggestion session data 206 of acustomer profile 200 of the database 74. The user then may return to thelifeplan movie 122. FIG. 14 illustrates a graphical user interfacepresented by an instance of the lifeplan movie 122 executing on a client82 after one or more financial plans have been generated. In addition tothe features shown in FIG. 12, and optionally any additional featureswhich may be incorporated from FIGS. 1, 2, and the discussion thereof, afinancial plan graphic 400 may also be displayed. This graphic has atime axis parallel to and vertically in line with the time axes of theevent schedule graphic 376 and the indicator variable graphics 372, andindicates the time extent of each financial plan by means of a barextending parallel to the time axis. Preferably, the bar or otherfeature representing each plan can be selected using a pointing deviceto launch a dialogue box relating to the particular plan, or otherinterface means allowing viewing or editing of parameters of theselected plan. Alternatively, the financial plan graphics could beomitted and details of plans made available by selecting a part or allof a relevant event flag.

The lifeplan movie 122 may allow editing of financial plan parametersand events following generation of financial plans, requestingrecalculation of the indicator variables and redisplaying the indicatorvariable graphics as necessary. Alternatively, or for some particularchanges, it may be necessary to re-execute the suggestion centre movie124 to generate fresh financial plans. Changes to financial plansrelating to a particular suggestion stage may require the user to betaken through the subsequent suggestion stages again.

Features of the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 15may be used in other embodiments, for example outside the field offinancial planning.

1. A computer apparatus comprising: a model component adapted tocalculate time series of one or more indicator variables dependent on aplurality of model parameters, at least some of said model parametersbeing event parameters relating to one or more events, each event havingat least one associated event time parameter; and a user interfacecomponent adapted to cause at least a part of the scope of said timeseries to be graphically represented as an event schedule graphic and toenable a user to position one or more event markers relative to saidevent schedule graphic, said user interface component being furtheradapted to cause one or more of said event time parameters to be setdependent on the position of each event marker relative to the eventschedule graphic.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the event schedulegraphic provides only a single control dimension of event time.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the user interface further comprises atimeline navigation element, and the event schedule graphic represents acontrollable part of the scope of said time series, the part of thescope being controllable using the timeline navigation element.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3 wherein the timeline navigation element displays aconcurrent representation of substantially the whole of said timeseries.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the user interface isadapted to enable a user to exclude one or more existing events, wherebythe associated event parameters are excluded from the model componentcalculation.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 whereby the exclusion of anevent is represented in the user interface by colouration ordiscolouration of the associated event marker.
 7. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the user interface component is further adapted to cause saidtime series of said one or more indicator variables to be graphicallydisplayed as indicator variable graphics at the same time as display ofsaid event schedule graphic.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein saidevent schedule graphic and said indicator variable graphics each have atime axis, and said time axes are substantially parallel and ofsubstantially the same scope.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein theuser interface component is further adapted to cause the model componentto recalculate said indicator variables following setting of one or moreof said event parameters.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the userinterface component is further adapted to: cause one or more eventselectors to be graphically displayed at the same time as said eventschedule graphic, each event selector being associated with a differenttype or class of event; enable a user to select one of said eventselectors and to select a corresponding drop position relative to saidevent schedule graphic; cause an event of the selected event type orclass to be generated; and to cause an event time parameter for thegenerated event to be set, the value of the event time parameter beingset dependent on the drop position relative to said event schedulegraphic.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein selection of an eventmarker positioned relative to said schedule graphic and associated withan event launches a user interface event dialogue element adapted toreceive from a user changes to the event parameters associated with saidevent.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the event schedule graphicis divided into a plurality of event schedule time regions, each regionrepresenting a time interval of said time series.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the user interface component is adapted to enable a userto move said event markers relative to said event schedule graphic, andto cause an event time parameter of an event associated with an eventmarker to be updated dependent on the new position of the event markerrelative to the event schedule graphic.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the apparatus is a financial planning apparatus, the modelcomponent implements a financial model and the events are financialevents.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the indicator variablesare selected from a list including spare income, amount of debt, and networth.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising a suggestionengine adapted to generate financial suggestions dependent on theplurality of model parameters including the event parameters, and toenable a user to build one or more financial plans based on saidsuggestions.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein model parametersrelating to events currently excluded in the user interface areneglected in the generation of financial suggestions.
 18. The apparatusof claim 16 wherein said user interface component is further adapted tocause a suggestion selector to be displayed, selection of saidsuggestion selector causing execution of said suggestion engine.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 16 wherein the user interface component is adapted tocause said financial plans, when built, to be represented as one or moreplan graphics displayed at the same time as said event schedule graphic,and to cause said indicator variable graphics to display time series ofsaid indicator variables calculated taking said financial plans intoaccount.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein selection of one of saidplan graphics by a user launches a user interface plan dialogue elementadapted to accept from a user changes to parameters associated with thecorresponding financial plan.
 21. A graphical user interface comprising:one or more indicator variable graphics displaying time series of one ormore indicator variables calculated using a model on the basis of aplurality of model parameters, at least some of said model parametersbeing event parameters relating to one or more events, each event havingat least one associated event time parameter; an event schedule graphicrepresenting at least a part of said time series; and an event markerfacility adapted to enable a user to place one or more event markers inlocations relative to said schedule graphic, and to cause to begenerated event parameters for an event corresponding to each eventmarker, an event time parameter for each event so generated being setaccording to the location of the marker relative to the event schedulegraphic.
 22. The graphical user interface of claim 21 wherein the eventschedule graphic provides only a single control dimension of event time.23. The graphical user interface of claim 21 further comprising atimeline navigation element, the event schedule graphic representing acontrollable portion of said time series, the portion of said timeseries being controllable using the timeline navigation element.
 24. Thegraphical user interface of claim 23 wherein the timeline navigationelement displays a concurrent representation of substantially the wholeof said time series.
 25. The graphical user interface of claim 21wherein the user interface is adapted to enable a user to exclude one ormore existing events, whereby the associated event parameters areexcluded from the model calculation.
 26. The graphical user interface ofclaim 25 whereby the exclusion of an event is represented in the userinterface by colouration or discolouration of the associated eventmarker.
 27. The graphical user interface of claim 21 wherein each eventtime parameter defines a position in said time series.
 28. The graphicaluser interface of claim 21 wherein the event schedule graphic and eachindicator variable graphic has a time axis, and the time axes aresubstantially parallel and of substantially the same scope.
 29. Thegraphical user interface of claim 21 further comprising an event editfacility adapted to enable a user to update event parameters associatedwith an event represented as an event marker.
 30. The graphical userinterface of claim 29 wherein the event edit facility is accessed byselecting an event marker using a pointing device controlling agraphical cursor.
 31. The graphical user interface of claim 21 whereineach event marker is moveable relative to said event schedule graphicusing a pointing device controlling a cursor, the interface beingadapted to cause the event time parameter to be updated in accordancewith movement of the event marker.
 32. The graphical user interface ofclaim 21 arranged such that the indicator variable graphicsautomatically display recalculated time series of said one or moreindicator variables in response to changes to said model parameters. 33.The graphical user interface of claim 21 wherein the user interface is afinancial planning user interface, the indicator variables are financialvariables and the events are financial events.
 34. The graphical userinterface of claim 33 further comprising a suggestions selector,selection of said suggestions selector by a user causing execution of asuggestion engine arranged to generate one or more financialsuggestions.
 35. The graphical user interface of claim 34 wherein modelparameters relating to events currently excluded in the user interfaceare neglected in the generation of financial suggestions.
 36. Thegraphical user interface of claim 34 further comprising one or morefinancial plan graphics illustrating the extent of each financial planwithin said time series.
 37. A financial planning tool comprising: auser profile entry module adapted to receive a plurality of financialparameters from a user; a lifeplan module adapted to receive a pluralityof event parameters relating to a plurality of financial events from auser, said event parameters including at least one event time parameterfor each event; and a financial model module adapted to calculate timeseries of one or more indicator variables from said financial parametersand said event parameters.
 38. The financial planning tool of claim 37further comprising a lifeplan user interface adapted to enable a user togenerate one or more events and to place said events at selected pointswithin said time series, said lifeplan user interface further displayinggraphically said time series of said indicator variables.
 39. Thefinancial planning tool of claim 37 further comprising a suggestioncentre module arranged to provide a user with financial suggestionoptions calculated from said financial parameters and said eventparameters, and to enable said user to select preferred ones of saidfinancial suggestion options so as to build one or more financial plans,each financial plan comprising a plurality of plan parameters.
 40. Thefinancial planning tool of claim 39 further comprising a suggestionengine module adapted to calculate said financial suggestion options andto pass said financial suggestion options to said suggestion centremodule.
 41. A method of automatically calculating a plurality offinancial suggestion options from a plurality of financial parametersdescribing the financial position of a user and a plurality of eventparameters describing financial goals of said user, comprising:following a predefined sequence of suggestion steps, each step relatingto a predefined suggestion area; for each suggestion step determiningfrom said financial parameters and said event parameters whether or notto calculate suggestion options for that step; for each suggestion stepfor which suggestion options are to be calculated, calculate suggestionoptions for that step.
 42. The method of claim 41 further comprising:for each step for which suggestion options are calculated, receiving aselection of said suggestion options from said user, and building afinancial plan for each such step based on the selected suggestionoptions, each financial plan including one or more plan parameters. 43.The method of claim 42 wherein the suggestion options calculated for afollowing step are calculated using the plan parameters of a financialplan built in a previous step.
 44. The method of claim 41 wherein saidsteps comprise two or more suggestion steps taken from the followingsequence: paying off credit card debt, paying off general loans,addressing current income deficits, building a rainy day fund, savingfor one or more events defined by said event parameters, getting lifeinsurance, overpaying mortgage and thinking about inheritance tax. 45.The method of claim 44 wherein said steps further comprise a suggestionstep of saving for retirement.
 46. A computer implemented planning toolfor assisting a user in planning for one or more future events, theplanning tool including a computer model for calculating future valuesof one or more variables based on a plurality of model parameters, atleast some of said model parameters defining future events to beincluded in the model, the planning tool providing: a timeline areadisplaying a timeline enabling a user to define one or more events withreference to the timeline; and an options area displaying one or moreoptions calculated by the planning tool to enable the user to plan forthe one or more defined events.
 47. The planning tool of claim 46wherein the timeline area also enables a user to change the parametersdefining an event, including moving the time of the event.
 48. Theplanning tool of claim 46 wherein the timeline area also enables a userto suspend a defined event, a suspended event being excluded from thecalculations of the computer model until the suspension is ended. 49.The planning tool of claim 46 wherein the options area enables a user toprioritize defined events, and wherein the planning tool accounts forthe prioritization when calculating said options.
 50. The planning toolof claim 46 wherein the options area further enables the user to selecta subset of the calculated options.
 51. The planning tool of claim 50further comprising a to-do list area displaying actions which a usershould take to put one or more of the selected subset of options intoeffect.
 52. The planning tool of claim 46 wherein the planning tool is afinancial planning tool, the events are finance-related events, and theoptions relate to possible courses of action of a user in planningfinancially for the events.
 53. A computer implemented planning toolhaving distributed functional elements for the calculation of personalfinance strategies comprising an application component, a user interfacecomponent and a database component.
 54. The computer implementedplanning tool of claim 53 wherein the application component comprises afinancial model element adapted to calculate future values of one ormore financial variables based on model parameters, said modelparameters including parameters defining one or more future financialevents.
 55. The computer implemented planning tool of claim 54 whereinthe application component comprises a timeline element adapted toarrange the display to a user of a timeline interface which enables theuser to define one or more of said financial events.
 56. The computerimplemented planning tool of claim 53 wherein said application componentfurther comprises an options element adapted to calculate one or moreoptions, each option representing a financial scheme to assist the userin achieving one of said events.
 57. The computer implemented planningtool of claim 53 wherein the elements of the application componentcommunicate with users using one or more user interface elementsincluded in the user interface component.
 58. The computer implementedplanning tool of claim 57 wherein the user interface component includesa network interface connectable to a network for communication with oneor more users thereby.
 59. A computer program product containingcomputer program code elements which when executed on a computer,perform a method of automatically calculating a plurality of financialsuggestion options from a plurality of financial parameters describingthe financial position of a user and a plurality of event parametersdescribing financial goals of said user, the method comprising:following a predefined sequence of suggestion steps, each step relatingto a predefined suggestion area; for each suggestion step determiningfrom said financial parameters and said event parameters whether or notto calculate suggestion options for that step; for each suggestion stepfor which suggestion options are to be calculated calculate suggestionoptions for that step.
 60. A computer program product containingcomputer program code elements which, when loaded on a computer system,provide a computer apparatus comprising: a model component adapted tocalculate time series of one or more indicator variables dependent on aplurality of model parameters at least some of said model parametersbeing event parameters relating to one or more events, each event havingat least one associated event time parameter; and a user interfacecomponent adapted to cause at least a part of the scope of said timeseries to be graphically represented as an event schedule graphic and toenable a user to position one or more event markers relative to saidevent schedule graphic, said user interface component being furtheradapted to cause one or more of said event time parameters to be setdependent on the position of each event marker relative to the eventschedule graphic.
 61. A computer program product containing computerprogram code elements which, when executed on a computer system havingsuitable visual display and input means, provide a graphical userinterface comprising: one or more indicator variable graphics displayingtime series of one or more indicator variables calculated using a modelon the basis of a plurality of model parameters, at least some of saidmodel parameters being event parameters relating to one or more events,each event having at least one associated event time parameter; an eventschedule graphic representing at least a part of said time series; andan event marker facility adapted to enable a user to place one or moreevent markers in locations relative to said schedule graphic, and tocause to be generated event parameters for an event corresponding toeach event marker, an event time parameter for each event so generatedbeing set according to the location of the marker relative to the eventschedule graphic.
 62. An apparatus providing a graphical user interfacecomprising: one or more indicator variable graphics displaying timeseries of one or more indicator variables calculated using a model onthe basis of a plurality of model parameters, at least some of saidmodel parameters being event parameters relating to one or more events,each event having at least one associated event time parameter; an eventschedule graphic representing at least a part of said time series; andan event marker facility adapted to enable a user to place one or moreevent markers in locations relative to said schedule graphic, and tocause to be generated event parameters for an event corresponding toeach event marker, an event time parameter for each event so generatedbeing set according to the location of the marker relative to the eventschedule graphic.
 63. A computer program product containing computerprogram code elements which, when executed on a suitable computer systemprovides a computer implemented planning tool for assisting a user inplanning for one or more future events, the planning tool including acomputer model for calculating future values of one or more variablesbased on a plurality of model parameters, at least some of said modelparameters defining future events to be included in the model, theplanning tool comprising: a timeline area displaying a timeline enablinga user to define one or more events with reference to the timeline; andan options area displaying one or more options calculated by theplanning tool to enable the user to plan for the one or more definedevents.